I had let my friend read my personal statement because they were having trouble with theirs. He recently showed me his and it was copy and paste from mine with the exception of one thing changed. I am really freaking out about how this affects my chances because we applied to many of the same schools. I know I shouldn't have emailed him my ps but I called AMCAs and I can't make any edits. If a medical school suspects plagiarism, what is going to happen? I have already graduated and have a clean record from undergrad, but will the medical school contact my university and will I get an academic integrity charge or will they just silently reject me?! I am really freaking out as to what is going to happen.
Friend copied and pasted my ps and now I'm freaking out
- Thread starter as7453
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I have no insight on this situation, but I just wanted to say this: What kind of absolute ***** copies your work, and then has the audacity to show it back to you, but with his name on it. This is crazy OP, I'm sorry you have to worry about something as stupid as this. I hope there are no problems and that everything works for you
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deleted962973
If this is real, which is hard to believe, do you have logs showing that you originally wrote the PS and you sent it to your friend for help? Email or text exchanges, for example?
Yes I do have the email. Is it likely that the school will contact the undergrad university and its gonna reach that level? I feel like they aren't gonna care even if I was the one who sent it and didn't necessarily copy
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How many schools did you guys BOTH apply to in the same cycle? I have a feeling that if its only a couple, you two will probably get lucky and no one will notice (whether its different readers or simple oversight or enough differences). But if its more than a few and/or AMCAS has some kind of plagiarism checker built-in with a database behind it, you guys are probably screwed.
If I were you, I'd start to put together the "evidence" that it was originally yours and only yours (emails, texts, etc). I'd worry that if a school notices it (which is very likely if you guys have more than 1-2 of the same schools) then you both might get reported to AMCAS and get "black-listed." Or worse, it happens and neither of you are informed.
Any adcoms want to fill in? @Goro
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deleted962973
I’m not sure why they’d contact the undergrad- more than likely, they’d report it to AMCAS, which could affect you even at the schools your friend didn’t apply to. I honestly might consider reaching out to AMCAS support if you have a sizable amount of evidence that he stole from you. If it was just a school here or there, maybe just pray that no one notices? I’m sorry OP
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Never heard of anything like this happening. My school gets 5000-6000 apps. What do you think the odds are that I or any of my colleagues will end up the with apps from OP and his "friend" at exactly the same time?
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deleted962973
What about if they applied to multiple of the same school and at a few, progressed to the interview stage? I’m sure at that point the similarities in PS will be noted since a few different adcoms will be looking at the app, right? As opposed to an app that gets thrown out pre-II which might get looked at by just one person.
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Perhaps I am going to sound like the old man that I am, but I would tell your "friend" that he violated your trust and better rectify the situation honestly before you do. If he did not make things right and push came to shove, I would tell the relevant parties exactly what transpired.
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Dirty little secret: once we progress to the interview stage, it is very unlikely that anyone (except the interviewer) would be reading the personal statement. We have commentaries from the original applicant reviewer(s) as well as the interviewer(s). That's enough to read. I would think it unlikely that anyone would have enough of a feeling of deja vu to blow the whistle unless they reviewed the two applications literally one after the other in the same hour.
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You need better friends
I applied to AACOMAs, but he didn't apply to DO schools only MD schools. If AMCAs is notified like other people are saying, will AACOMAs be notified also. Thank you for taking the time to respond and help me, this really means a lot to me.
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Unlikely.
I applied to both AMCAS and AACOMAs. He only applied to AMCAs
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I like how you said "my friend."
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Report your friend to the AMCAS before your friend reports you and tries to say you stole his PS. To second other posters, you need better friends.
If this is true that sucks majorly. There's no way you could have known your friend would do this and many people send their PS to friends to proofread.
Personally I would immediately report to AMCAS and AACOMAs along with the relevant evidence from email. The chance of someone finding out is slim, but why risk it? At this point, your friend doesn't deserve your silence.
Personally I would immediately report to AMCAS and AACOMAs along with the relevant evidence from email. The chance of someone finding out is slim, but why risk it? At this point, your friend doesn't deserve your silence.
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Where are you right now in the process? Have you been accepted? Interviewed? If you’ve been accepted already, I personally would report this - tell AMCAS this guy copied your application, it will get investigated, they will surely come to the same conclusion, and you’ll move on. If you haven’t been accepted, I really don’t know what the move is here.
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I agree with reporting said "friend" to AMCAS. Anyone who would do this to a "friend" should not be an MD. (or DO). Physicians are expected to act in a professional, ethical and compassionate manner and what he did to you was neither. If he would do this to a friend, one can only imagine how he might treat "strangers".
And now you have a great answer for any interview questions about ethical dilemmas that you have faced.
And now you have a great answer for any interview questions about ethical dilemmas that you have faced.
